Log in or register
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 06 APRIL 2013

Budget 2013: Deconstructing Derivatives – Capturing "Character Conversion Transactions"

McMillan LLP
McMillan LLP
Contributor
McMillan LLP

McMillan LLP

The firm : McMillan LLP is one of Canada’s leading national law firms with offices in Montreal,...

View firm profile
Explore more from McMillan LLP

One of the "tax loopholes" targeted in Budget 2013 is a category of financial transactions dubbed "character conversion transactions" by the Government.

CanadaTax
Michael Friedman
Michael Friedman
Peter Botz
Peter Botz
Author LinkedIn connections

One of the "tax loopholes" targeted in Budget 2013 is a category of financial transactions dubbed "character conversion transactions" by the Government. The Ministry of Finance sees "character conversation transactions" as inappropriate attempts to convert investment returns that would be fully taxed as ordinary income into capital gains, only half of which is treated as taxable income.

Budget 2013 defines the offensive transactions as those using a form of derivative agreement known as a "forward contract". New provisions in the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act") will apply specifically to forward contracts of a taxpayer where the purchase or sale price is not based on the attributes of the property being sold but is instead determined by the performance or value of a reference asset.

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Register for freeORLog in

Related Articles

Legal Intelligence Newsletters: sign up for the latest legal and regulatory news on your chosen topics

Read more about

Related Comparative Guides

See more popular content from

Article

How To Appeal The Toronto Vacant Home (VHT) Tax: Here’s What One Landlord Did To Fight VHT Assessment

Since 2022, the City of Toronto has imposed an annual Vacant Home Tax (VHT) on residential units left unoccupied for more than six months of the year. For most owners the tax is an afterthought: file the annual declaration, confirm the unit was lived in, and move on. But when the City’s administrative process breaks down, an owner can find themselves fighting a five-figure tax bill over a unit they insist was never vacant at all.
CanadaTax
Rotfleisch & Samulovitch P.C.
Rotfleisch & Samulovitch P.C.
Article

Cryptocurrency Held Through A Bare Trustee: Tax Treatment And The 2026 Reporting Obligations

If you hold cryptocurrency, NFTs or other blockchain assets in someone else’s wallet, or hold assets in your own wallet for someone else, the arrangement is very likely a bare trust. Until recently, that carried almost no compliance consequence. It now carries three reporting obligations to track: the T3 filing for 2026, the T1135, and the proposed Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework from 2027.
CanadaTax
Rotfleisch & Samulovitch P.C.
Rotfleisch & Samulovitch P.C.
Article

Productivity Mega Deduction: Key Tax Measures Announced At The Canada Investment Summit

Canada has introduced a permanent Productivity Mega Deduction allowing immediate expensing of up to 100% of eligible capital property costs and Canadian development expenses acquired after September 15, 2026. This measure aims to boost business investment and strengthen Canada's tax competitiveness by expanding immediate expensing eligibility from 15% to approximately two-thirds of capital investments, while reducing the country's marginal effective tax rate to 6.4%.
CanadaTax
McCarthy Tétrault
McCarthy Tétrault
Article

Powering Up: Grid Access, Strategic Screening And Canada’s Emerging Data Centre Regimes

Canada is rapidly becoming a key destination for data centre investment, fueled by artificial intelligence and cloud computing growth. However, this expansion places unprecedented demands on electricity grids, water resources, and local communities. As federal and provincial governments introduce new frameworks to manage these resource challenges, developers and investors must navigate an increasingly complex landscape where power strategy...
CanadaEnergy and Natural Resources
McMillan LLP
McMillan LLP
Article

Cleared For Investment: Canada Opens The Door To Private Capital At Its Largest Airports

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced plans to seek private investment through long-term concessions to operate Canada's four largest airports: Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, Montréal-Trudeau and Calgary. While the government would retain ownership of underlying land and assets, this represents a fundamental shift from the current not-for-profit airport authority model that has governed these facilities since the 1990s.
CanadaTransport
McMillan LLP
McMillan LLP
Article

Building Momentum: Canada Advances Major Projects Under The Building Canada Act

The federal government has published notices proposing to add the Mackenzie Valley Highway and Roberts Bank Terminal 2 to Schedule 1 of the Building Canada Act as projects of national interest. These potential listings, following a similar notice for the West Coast Oil Pipeline, provide the first practical indications of how the government may use the Act to advance major infrastructure projects through streamlined federal approvals while maintaining Indigenous consultation and environmental assessment requ
CanadaGovernment, Public Sector
McMillan LLP
McMillan LLP
Article

A Matter Of Interpretation: Termination Clause Prevails Under The Canada Labour Code

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has applied the Baker v. Van Dolder's Home Team framework to uphold a termination clause under the Canada Labour Code, rejecting a plaintiff's claim for common law reasonable notice. This decision demonstrates how courts will now interpret employment agreements by examining the parties' objective intentions rather than conducting technical word-by-word analysis of contractual provisions.
CanadaEmployment and HR
McMillan LLP
McMillan LLP